Perfluorooctane Sulfonate or PFOS for short, is a chemical that not many people know about but it could be a very effective chemical in the near future. Because it is a new chemical scientists are still in the process of studying it but there is evidence that it is very harmful to rats through tests and such. It’s also very dangerous because it never breaks down which is very scary.
PFOS takes a tole on everything and everyone. After they dump the PFOS into the environment it doesn’t break down so it begins to hit the environment and the animals all around. There have been studies where they have found traces in polar bears and even dolphins. If it were to be banned I don’t think there would be many affects to us Americans but I do think that would be a difference in the way that like we do business with countries that give us things because then places like china would be very, very angry because most of their products would not be able to be brought there and they wouldn’t be having their products sold as much.
PFOS is a chemical that needs to be banned. Its not like it would really take a toll on us if it were so, really everyone else has done it already and they need to do it as well. Even though there would be a little drop in the money I’m sure we could find a replacement for it as they are looking for something at this very moment and they probably will have it by the time we are ready to ban it. Europe banned this and Canada is getting ready to ban it so I think that we should take the hint and start to help ourselves instead of hurting like usual.
Background
This chemical is a very popular chemical through out almost everyone’s homes through out all of America. This is used in things such as impregnation agents for textiles, paper, and leather; in wax, polishes, paints, varnishes, and cleaning products for general use; in metal surfaces, and carpets. Perfluorooctane Sulfonate is good for things such as these because it doesn’t hydrolyze, photolyze or biodegrade under environmental conditions. Although all these great things that it can do, it comes with a bunch of chemicals that hurt us. For these reasons Europe was banned it because they are afraid it is hurting people to the extent of giving them different diseases.
Human health implications
Perfluorooctane Sulfonate or PFOS for short is especially dangerous. PFOS is very stable and doesn’t break down when it gets into the environment. That being said, with it not breaking down it will just keep building up on top of the rest of the chemical until there is so much of it. Being as though it is used in tons of things that Americans use every single day, PFOS can be traced to the blood of practically every human living in the United States.
Scientists still have yet to figure out how this chemical is transferred to humans, chemically not physically because they can obviously see that through the products it’s getting to people. Scientists are also still in the works of finding out what this chemical actually does to people. They know that it does something because its sister chemical pentadecafluorooctanoic acid or PFOA for short, has already been found to hurt people when in a business called Dupont in Ohio used it. It somehow got into the drinking water of the people and people noticed. Scientists are now taking studies to see if there are any long-term health effects but are still in the process.
Scientists are worried that these effects will potentially hurt babies when the mother has been exposed to PFOS. There was a study and they found traces of it inside of the umbilical cord’s blood, which means the baby was receiving it. They are still going to have to take a good look at it because as of now they don’t know much on it, but are scared of the consequences of the drug. In studies that they have taken about the chemical, in animals, it has shown that there has been a problem in the liver and other organs.
Environmental implications
The environmental effects of this chemical really aren’t much for one reason and one reason only; it doesn’t break down into the environment. It is a very durable chemical so when it gets into the environment it just sits there it doesn’t break down, this is why they use it in scotch tape and such. Usually, different factories just dumb the extra chemicals into near by rivers and lakes because of its clear, water like self. When asked about the substance, they just say that they had no idea about the affects of the chemical. If you look in any of the fish or surrounding mammal life, they all have traces of it in their blood.
When looked at plants there were no traces of it found probably because the plants just let it go. There were no effects show to the fish or anything in the water but it is found in all of it. Scientists are still studying them for long-term effects as well as the humans because there may be some long term effects because there are no short term effects that they have seen. The molecular formula for Perfluorooctane Sulfonate is C8HF17O3S.
Economic/Political Impact
If PFOS were banned many, many things would happen being as though a lot of things don’t have many alternatives to PFOS. They haven’t really been looked into that much because it is kind of a relatively new substance in many things that are coming around in the products today. PFOS are being sent around the world, well where PFOS are still aloud mostly from our main export places, china in particular because it is most of our exports as well as many other places.
If it were to come to the fact that PFOS were banned many of our products would be drastically changed or just gone all together. First of all, many cleaning products to get out grease stains would be probably gone because of the fact that PFOS are very hard to break down and take a very long time so it would be very difficult to find something that could match PFOS and still not be as harmful. There is talk about a substance for fire extinguishers that have the same effect but not half as harmful chemicals inside. People are still taking a look at it but they are taking it into very much consideration because PFOS are so bad for people to inhale or get into their body at all.
There really aren’t any cost alternatives to PFOS. They are created through the production of different materials so I think that looking for a new chemical to replace it would probably take a lot more money then to just continue using it, not saying that I agree with using it, but to find another chemical to replace something that is so easy to use to help make a problem is going to be very hard begins as though everything these days causes so many health effects that’s its ridiculous.
For the average human, I don’t think that it would really like kill any of us if it were banned. I mean maybe that psycho cleaning mother, but like seriously I think that there are other products that don’t contain so much PFOS in it that they can use to do the things they do now with the chemicals, and since they think that have found something for fire extinguishers then I really don’t see the problem in banning the chemical all together like many of the other countries have.
Political ramifications would be through the roof if this chemical were banned because it is in a lot of the products that come from different places. Different partnerships and agreements between different countries and us would be very messed especially with china. In plain words china would be pissed as hell! They would be losing so much revenue from the U.S. that I think that they would probably just cut contact all together with us, well if it weren’t for the other billion products coming to us through that country. In other words I think that if they were to ban PFOS like many of the other countries our suppliers would be very mad and both countries, the U.S. and China, would be losing revenue through this drastic measure.
Synthesis/Production
PFOS are made when different chemicals are combined to create different substances such as the infamous cleaning supplies and like candy wrappers and such. It is made up of many different chemicals, its molecular formula is C8HF17O3S. C- Carbon, H- Hydrogen, F- Fluorine, O- Oxygen, and S- Sulphur.
I do believe that the synthesis of a product means how it is when the chemical is built up so that’s what I am going to talk about. Since PFOS cant really be broken down in the environment it just begins to build upon itself over and over again until there is so much of it that there really is a problem. This chemical really doesn’t come into contact with many of the other materials because it doesn’t break down and it doesn’t react with anything around it.
Summary
PFOS is a very intriguing chemical for many reasons. For one it is so many things we use today such as metal plates, fire-fighting materials, cleaning supplies and etc. It is everywhere right under our noses and other then the products it doesn’t have many good side effects. On tests done on rats it was toxic and with this being a toxic chemical and the fact that it does not break down in the environment at all makes it even more dangerous. I think that for the safety and well being of the Americans I do believe that we should follow our brethren countries and ban this chemical for good before it becomes an epidemic beyond any other that we have ever seen, maybe even more the lead!
Table of Contents
Abstract
Perfluorooctane Sulfonate or PFOS for short, is a chemical that not many people know about but it could be a very effective chemical in the near future. Because it is a new chemical scientists are still in the process of studying it but there is evidence that it is very harmful to rats through tests and such. It’s also very dangerous because it never breaks down which is very scary.
PFOS takes a tole on everything and everyone. After they dump the PFOS into the environment it doesn’t break down so it begins to hit the environment and the animals all around. There have been studies where they have found traces in polar bears and even dolphins. If it were to be banned I don’t think there would be many affects to us Americans but I do think that would be a difference in the way that like we do business with countries that give us things because then places like china would be very, very angry because most of their products would not be able to be brought there and they wouldn’t be having their products sold as much.
PFOS is a chemical that needs to be banned. Its not like it would really take a toll on us if it were so, really everyone else has done it already and they need to do it as well. Even though there would be a little drop in the money I’m sure we could find a replacement for it as they are looking for something at this very moment and they probably will have it by the time we are ready to ban it. Europe banned this and Canada is getting ready to ban it so I think that we should take the hint and start to help ourselves instead of hurting like usual.
Background
This chemical is a very popular chemical through out almost everyone’s homes through out all of America. This is used in things such as impregnation agents for textiles, paper, and leather; in wax, polishes, paints, varnishes, and cleaning products for general use; in metal surfaces, and carpets. Perfluorooctane Sulfonate is good for things such as these because it doesn’t hydrolyze, photolyze or biodegrade under environmental conditions. Although all these great things that it can do, it comes with a bunch of chemicals that hurt us. For these reasons Europe was banned it because they are afraid it is hurting people to the extent of giving them different diseases.
Human health implications
Perfluorooctane Sulfonate or PFOS for short is especially dangerous. PFOS is very stable and doesn’t break down when it gets into the environment. That being said, with it not breaking down it will just keep building up on top of the rest of the chemical until there is so much of it. Being as though it is used in tons of things that Americans use every single day, PFOS can be traced to the blood of practically every human living in the United States.
Scientists still have yet to figure out how this chemical is transferred to humans, chemically not physically because they can obviously see that through the products it’s getting to people. Scientists are also still in the works of finding out what this chemical actually does to people. They know that it does something because its sister chemical pentadecafluorooctanoic acid or PFOA for short, has already been found to hurt people when in a business called Dupont in Ohio used it. It somehow got into the drinking water of the people and people noticed. Scientists are now taking studies to see if there are any long-term health effects but are still in the process.
Scientists are worried that these effects will potentially hurt babies when the mother has been exposed to PFOS. There was a study and they found traces of it inside of the umbilical cord’s blood, which means the baby was receiving it. They are still going to have to take a good look at it because as of now they don’t know much on it, but are scared of the consequences of the drug. In studies that they have taken about the chemical, in animals, it has shown that there has been a problem in the liver and other organs.
Environmental implications
The environmental effects of this chemical really aren’t much for one reason and one reason only; it doesn’t break down into the environment. It is a very durable chemical so when it gets into the environment it just sits there it doesn’t break down, this is why they use it in scotch tape and such. Usually, different factories just dumb the extra chemicals into near by rivers and lakes because of its clear, water like self. When asked about the substance, they just say that they had no idea about the affects of the chemical. If you look in any of the fish or surrounding mammal life, they all have traces of it in their blood.
When looked at plants there were no traces of it found probably because the plants just let it go. There were no effects show to the fish or anything in the water but it is found in all of it. Scientists are still studying them for long-term effects as well as the humans because there may be some long term effects because there are no short term effects that they have seen. The molecular formula for Perfluorooctane Sulfonate is C8HF17O3S.
Economic/Political Impact
If PFOS were banned many, many things would happen being as though a lot of things don’t have many alternatives to PFOS. They haven’t really been looked into that much because it is kind of a relatively new substance in many things that are coming around in the products today. PFOS are being sent around the world, well where PFOS are still aloud mostly from our main export places, china in particular because it is most of our exports as well as many other places.
If it were to come to the fact that PFOS were banned many of our products would be drastically changed or just gone all together. First of all, many cleaning products to get out grease stains would be probably gone because of the fact that PFOS are very hard to break down and take a very long time so it would be very difficult to find something that could match PFOS and still not be as harmful. There is talk about a substance for fire extinguishers that have the same effect but not half as harmful chemicals inside. People are still taking a look at it but they are taking it into very much consideration because PFOS are so bad for people to inhale or get into their body at all.
There really aren’t any cost alternatives to PFOS. They are created through the production of different materials so I think that looking for a new chemical to replace it would probably take a lot more money then to just continue using it, not saying that I agree with using it, but to find another chemical to replace something that is so easy to use to help make a problem is going to be very hard begins as though everything these days causes so many health effects that’s its ridiculous.
For the average human, I don’t think that it would really like kill any of us if it were banned. I mean maybe that psycho cleaning mother, but like seriously I think that there are other products that don’t contain so much PFOS in it that they can use to do the things they do now with the chemicals, and since they think that have found something for fire extinguishers then I really don’t see the problem in banning the chemical all together like many of the other countries have.
Political ramifications would be through the roof if this chemical were banned because it is in a lot of the products that come from different places. Different partnerships and agreements between different countries and us would be very messed especially with china. In plain words china would be pissed as hell! They would be losing so much revenue from the U.S. that I think that they would probably just cut contact all together with us, well if it weren’t for the other billion products coming to us through that country. In other words I think that if they were to ban PFOS like many of the other countries our suppliers would be very mad and both countries, the U.S. and China, would be losing revenue through this drastic measure.
Synthesis/Production
PFOS are made when different chemicals are combined to create different substances such as the infamous cleaning supplies and like candy wrappers and such. It is made up of many different chemicals, its molecular formula is C8HF17O3S. C- Carbon, H- Hydrogen, F- Fluorine, O- Oxygen, and S- Sulphur.
I do believe that the synthesis of a product means how it is when the chemical is built up so that’s what I am going to talk about. Since PFOS cant really be broken down in the environment it just begins to build upon itself over and over again until there is so much of it that there really is a problem. This chemical really doesn’t come into contact with many of the other materials because it doesn’t break down and it doesn’t react with anything around it.
Summary
PFOS is a very intriguing chemical for many reasons. For one it is so many things we use today such as metal plates, fire-fighting materials, cleaning supplies and etc. It is everywhere right under our noses and other then the products it doesn’t have many good side effects. On tests done on rats it was toxic and with this being a toxic chemical and the fact that it does not break down in the environment at all makes it even more dangerous. I think that for the safety and well being of the Americans I do believe that we should follow our brethren countries and ban this chemical for good before it becomes an epidemic beyond any other that we have ever seen, maybe even more the lead!
Resources
http://www.fluoridealert.org/pesticides/pfoa.pfos.intro.htmlhttp://www.fluoridealert.org/pesticides/effect.pfos.classaction.htm
http://www.oecd.org/document/58/0,2340,en_2649_34375_2384378_1_1_1_1,00.html
http://www.uspopswatch.org/global/fourpops_review_29jlu05.htm
http://www.uspopswatch.org/global/fourpops_review_29jlu05.htm
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